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DECISION No.767-TTg OF SEPTEMBER 17, 1997 ON A NUMBER OF POLICIES TOWARDS THE OVERSEAS VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;

With a view to creating favorable conditions for and encouraging Vietnamese residing abroad to enhance their relations with the homeland and to contribute to national construction, thus satisfying the legitimate aspirations of the majority in the overseas Vietnamese community;

At the proposals of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and concerned ministries and branches at the meeting held on September 8, 1997,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To supplement a number of provisions on entry, exit and residence applicable to Vietnamese residing abroad:

1. Vietnamese citizens holding Vietnamese passports and Vietnamese holding foreign passports but having not yet relinquished their Vietnamese citizenship shall be granted single or multiple entry and exit visas (including loose visa sheets) valid for 6 months. The duration of their stay in the country shall be the visa validity duration calculated from the date of entry, which may be extended by 3 to 6 months each time. The procedures for considering the grant or extension of visas and stay duration shall be carried out in a quick and convenient manner.

2. The visa and stay fees shall be reduced for: Vietnamese citizens holding Vietnamese passports; Vietnamese residing in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and China (irrespective of the types of their travel papers); Vietnamese holding foreign passports who have done meritorious services to the country or who are intellectuals invited to the country by authorities of provincial or higher level for working visits.

The Ministry of Finance shall set levels (or percentages) of fee reduction after consulting the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior.

Article 2.-

1. Vietnamese citizens holding Vietnamese passports and Vietnamese residing in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and China, when returning to Vietnam, shall be entitled to pay the same fares for waterway, railway and land-road transportation and the same rates for accommodation, electricity and water supply, telephone, facsimile services... as Vietnamese residing in the country.

2. Vietnamese residing abroad (irrespective of the type of their travel papers) and their relatives (who are foreigners coming with them to Vietnam) shall be entitled to the same entrance fees for their visits to museums, exhibitions, historical relics and scenic places in Vietnam and the same ticket prices for art performances as Vietnamese residing in the country.

3. Vietnamese holding foreign passports who have done meritorious services to the country or taken part in patriotic movements of Vietnamese abroad, or who are intellectuals..., and are now invited for working visits in the country by competent agencies, shall be entitled to reduction of transport fares (including domestic air fares) and prices of services mentioned in Point 1 of this Article (lower than those applicable to foreigners).

The Committee for Overseas Vietnamese shall coordinate with the competent agencies in specifying eligible subjects and level (or percentage) of price reduction as mentioned in Point 3 of this Article and publicize it.

Article 3.- Vietnamese residing abroad who repatriate to Vietnam and hold valid Vietnamese passports are entitled to continue using such passports; to buy or rent residential houses like Vietnamese residing in the country; to the duty-free import of assets specified on the list of goods, luggage and effects for personal and family use under the current provisions of law.

Article 4.-

1. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment shall assume the main responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Training in adopting policies and specific measures to employ and encourage Vietnamese intellectuals residing abroad to return and work in the country, and submitting them to the Government for consideration and promulgation in the first quarter of 1998.

2. The General Department of Physical Training and Sports shall elaborate and then submit to the Government for promulgation specific documents on policies and measures encouraging athletes and sport experts who are Vietnamese residing abroad to participate in domestic and international sport events.

Article 5.- The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall assume the main responsibility and coordinate with the ministries and specialized branches in issuing documents providing detailed guidance in the domains where the investment by Vietnamese residing abroad shall be encouraged under the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam and the Law on Promotion of Domestic Investment; take measures to handle "illegal" investment activities in the names of Vietnamese residing in the country by "legalizing" existing investment activities in order to manage them in accordance with the current law.

Article 6.- The Ministry of Finance shall work out plans for annual and extraordinary allocation of funds for information and cultural activities, teaching the Vietnamese language and conducting general education in Vietnamese, for external propaganda and cultural exchange with overseas Vietnamese community; and at the same time ensure the regular funding for the apparatus in charge of overseas Vietnamese according to the estimates drafted by ministries, branches and localities.

Article 7.- The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Emulation and Commendation Institute shall apply the policy on commendation (principally the moral commendation) to Vietnamese residing abroad who have done meritorious services to the country during the resistance wars for national salvation and the cause of national construction.

Article 8.- The Government Commission on Organization and Personnel shall assume the main responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in studying, proposing and guiding the application of organizational model of apparatus in charge of the work related to the overseas Vietnamese, along the following direction:

- The ministries and branches at central level shall assign their leading officials and apparatuses in charge of international relations and cooperation to simultanously undertake the work on overseas Vietnamese.

- The authorities of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall revise the functions of their departments and branches with the function related to overseas Vietnamese in order to assign a single suitable body to under take such function on a part-time basis, but not to set up a new separate apparatus.

Article 9.- This Decision takes effect from October 15, 1997. The previous stipulations which are contrary to this Decision are now annulled.

The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the Presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to implement this Decision.

The Prime Minister

VO VAN KIET